Taiwan following China on Tibet policy?

February 11, 2010

Tibetan Review
February 10, 2010

The cabinet-level Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission (MTAC) of
Taiwan under Kuomintang rule is making an about turn in its policy
direction, which could mean derecognizing the Tibetan
government-in-exile, according to a Taipei Times online report Feb 8.

"Little by little, MTAC has been pushing for exchanges [between
Taiwan] and Mongolian and Tibetan regions in China," the report
quoted MTAC chairman Kao Su-po as saying at the commission's lunar
year-end press conference Feb 7. "We are the supporting agency in
cross-strait exchanges," he had added.

Koa has also spoken of plans by the cabinet to subsume MTAC into the
Mainland Affairs Council in 2012, saying the change could help MTAC
"find a proper place when dealing with Mongolian and Tibetan affairs."

Former MTAC member Sue Wang has, however, disagreed with the new
policy direction. He has said Taiwan is an independent country, just
like China is, and it would be odd for it to have a policy to
interact with ethnic groups in another country.

The MTAC was created in 1928, when the Republic of China (ROC)
government run by the Kuomintang was still the legitimate government
of China, to deal with Mongolian and Tibetan affairs. However, the
agency was turned into a supporting agency in foreign affairs under
the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration from 2000 to
2008, Wang has pointed out.

Under the Kuomintang government, the MTAC no longer accepts the
authentication of Tibetan refugees living in the country from the
Tibetan government-in-exile. Kao has insisted that the verification
must come from "a proper government authority" and that the
verification from "an exiled Tibetan organization" is not enough.

"This is just the opposite of what we used to do," Wang has said. "In
the past, we would confirm the identity of a Tibetan refugee if the
Tibetan government-in-exile could verify the person's Tibetan refugee status."